Sunday, 20 September 2015

These medals were struck by the Swiss medallist Jean Dassier (1676-1763) in 1731. They represent the kings and queens of England in chronological order from William I (reigned 1066-1087). Dassier presented the group up to and including George II (reigned 1727-1760).

Dassier published his series of the medals of the Kings and Queens of England in 1731, dedicating it to George II. The medals were available individually and as complete sets. They were struck in bronzed-copper, damascened copper (the relief gilded in contrast to bronzed fields) and silver. The dies for the medals were eventually purchased by Sir Edward Thomason of Birmingham, who reissued the medals c.1820. New obverse dies were also modelled after the originals and used to strike sets in white metal with new reverses that carried an inscription describing notable events of the reign of the individual depicted on the obverse.

Dassier produced this series for English collectors who required a set of medals of their own monarchs that mirrored the chronological sequences in which they arranged ancient Roman coins of emperors. This in turn derived from the collectors' interest in matching coins and medals to written histories of the ancient world.

This form of arrangement had been set out in John Evelyn'sNumismata(1694): see -

There was no known likeness for a number of the monarchs in the series, usually because they had not issued medals during their reigns. Dassier therefore based some of their portraits on the imagined engravings in theHistory of Englandby Paul de Rapin-Thoyras (1661 - 1725).

Rapin - Thoyras was the French author of a 'History of England', which was published by the Knapton brothers with enormous success in the 1730s, both in the original French and in English translation. Illustrations were commissioned for it from George Vertue. Translated by Nicolas Tindall (1687 - 1774).

Jean Dassier (1676-1763) was one of the most prominent and celebrated engravers of the eighteenth century. Jean Dassier was a member of a noted Swiss family of medallists. He trained under his father, Domaine Dassier (1641-1719), chief engraver at the mint in Geneva. Jean later studied in Paris under Jean Mauger and Joseph Roettier(s). After serving his father as assistant engraver at Geneva, Jean assumed the position of chief engraver following his father's death, a position he held until his own death over forty years later. Jean Dassier was the most prolific of the family, issuing several series of medals, including a series of small medals (jetons) Les metamorphoses d’Ovide, a series of medals representing celebrated men and women in France during the 17th century (Les Hommes Illustres du Siecle de Louis XIV), a series of medals depicting the principal Protestant Reformers, the Genevan Theologians, medals illustrating the history of Geneva. In conjunction with his son, he also issued a series of small medals illustrating Roman history. Jean Dassier's three sons followed his footsteps in engraving, most notably Jacques-Antoine Dassier (1715-1759).

"The first published set of medals of the Kings and Queens of England, was damascened, bronze with the design highlighted in gold. The sets contained 33 medals. Only a few of these sets were made for presentation purposes. One set was presented to George II, to whom the series was dedicated. George II asked that a medal for Caroline, his wife, be added. When the series was offered for sale in London in 1731, it contained 34 medals. The medals from this set suggest that the set was on sale for some time and some of the dies were re-cut by Dassier, presumably because the original dies had become damaged whilst in use.

I would like to thank Professor Ben Weiss, Emeritus Professor of Pharmacology and PhysiologyDrexel University College of Medicine, for allowing me to reproduce his photographs and captions.

These are the Medallions on a green background - in order to complete this study I have found illustrations of these medallions in various other websites.

An Explanation of Dassier’s Medals of the Sovereigns of England, a series of six engraved plates of the Kings and Queens of England, by Pye, c. 1773,

The final plate with additional medals of George III and Queen Charlotte - "The additional medals chosen are interesting, the first the undated medal of George III, by Lewis Pingo. Eimer [Pingo, 54], dates the medal to c. 1775, when the medal was exhibited at the Free Society of Artists. Stainton (private notes) believed it to have been used by the Welch Society. However it is catalogued by Brown [BHM 265], following Col. Grant’s lead, as "American Independence", and placed ten years later in 1785. The second medal is John Kirk’s medal of Queen Charlotte, for the founding of the Medical Society of London in 1773 [BHM 184].

Obv: Bust of William I with winged helmet to indicate the rapidity of the conquest. GULIELMUS. I. CONQUAESTOR. D. G. ANG. REX. (William I, the Conqueror, by the Grace of God, King of England). Rev: Seated on pedestal of tomb are a captive and England lamenting her subjugation. Pedestal is ornamented with a bas-relief representing the surrender of the keys of London to the Conqueror after the Battle of Hastings.

Obv: Bust of William II GULIELMUS. II. D.G. ANGLIAE. REX. (William II, by the Grace of God, King of England). Rev: Tomb in form of a casket, the front of which is decorated with a winged head; the sides are decorated with the head of a Faun between two withered branches. A Faun, in Roman mythology, is one of a group of rural deities represented as having the body of a man and the horns, ears, tail, and sometimes legs of a goat.Exergue: NAT. J060. COR. J087. MORT. J100.

Obv: Bust of Stephen STEPHANUS D.G. ANGLIAE REX. (Stephen, by the Grace of God, King of England).Rev: A tomb upon which sits a winged infant leaning on globe. On the front and one side are bas reliefs: one representing the battle of Lincoln, where Stephen was made a prisoner, and the other representing Stephen’s queen beseeching his release from the Empress Maud (Matilda).Exergue: NAT. J105, COR. J135. MORT. J154

Obv: Bust of Henry II HENRICUS. II. D.G. ANG. ET HIB. REX.Rev: On monument the king is kneeling at the shrine of St. Thomas a Becket. Below, Mars seated amid military trophies, leaning on the shield of England and holding a Victory. The lilies of France on the standard and prostrate shield of Ireland indicate the scenes of the exploits of this military monarch. NATUS 1133 CORONAT. 1155 MORT. 1189

Subscribe To Bath, Art and Architecture

About Me

"The historian should be fearless and incorruptible; a man of independence, loving frankness and truth; one who, as the poets says, calls a fig a fig and a spade a spade. He should yield to neither hatred nor affection, not should be unsparing and unpitying. He should be neither shy nor deprecating, but an impartial judge, giving each side all it deserves but no more. He should know in his writing no country and no city; he should bow to no authority and acknowledge no king. He should never consider what this or that man will think, but should state the facts as they really occurred. Lucian of Samosata